Something Wicked in Glorantha

Main Page

Dragon Pass is probably the most important place in Glorantha. Dragon Pass is the crossroads of the northern continent of Genertela and is the only passage for large armies through the Rockwood Mountains, which extend unbroken for more than a thousand miles to the west and another thousand miles to the east. This alone makes Dragon Pass an extremely strategic location.

More important is the fact that Dragon Pass is an extremely magical region. It is the ancestral home of the dragons and center of the world for many Gloranthan myths. The greatest mountain in Glorantha, Kero Fin – the home of the gods – rises an impossible 40,000 feet and can be seen for hundreds of miles. Here the storm god Orlanth was born and it is the homeland of the culture bearing his name: the Orlanthi. However, a greater proportion of the region’s population is non-human than almost any other area in Glorantha.

When the Lunar Empire reached Dragon Pass they found it ruled by the kingdoms of Tarsh and Sartar. After many years of resistance, those kingdoms fell one-by-one to the growing power of the Lunar Empire. Sedenya, the Red Moon, sent one of her daughters to seduce and conquer the Tarshites. The kingdom of Sartar, ruled by a wise dynasty, cautious to maintain the great and magical laws which gave it its strength, resisted far longer. But despite many defeats at the hands of House of Sartar, the Red Emperor eventually marched into the Sartar capitol of Boldhome. He defiled the Temple of Orlanth and ravaged the city. That was in 1602 ST, sixteen years ago. This series begins in the year 1618 ST.

Despite the Lunar Conquest, great events, magical and religious, are occurring in Dragon Pass. Many prophets and scholars predict that the Hero Wars that threaten to again plunge Glorantha into Darkness will begin in Dragon Pass.